A guide to the 2016 state and local primaries

ALBANY — New Yorkers who like voting in primaries are in luck. Because of this year’s presidential race and the Legislature’s failure to come to an agreement on recombining the congressional and state votes after a 2012 judicial decision split them, Tuesday will be the third opportunity for some voters to cast primary votes this year.

This round of votes mostly involves state legislative candidates. There are 29 incumbents facing major party primary challenges, 14 campaigns for candidates in open legislative seats, and six races to be the nominee against an incumbent who might be vulnerable in November.

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There are also a handful of local races of note, including former senator Hiram Monserrate’s attempt at a political comeback in Queens, a New York City Council race in the Bronx and a vitriolic battle among Democrats hoping to be the next Erie County district attorney.

Here’s a look at the races worth watching, sorted by economic development region and New York City borough:

BRONX

Senate District 33, Gustavo Rivera and Fernando Cabrera

Several downstate districts have become battlegrounds in the war between school reform advocates and teachers’ unions. Education groups control the state’s biggest super PACs, and while reformers and unions will likely take sides along most partisan lines in November, supporters of charter schools and tax credits for donations to private schools have focused on targeting eight incumbent Democrats in the primaries, forcing the New York State United Teachers to play defense in support of allies.

As of late last week, these groups had spent the most money in the 33rd Senate District, which includes neighborhoods such as Fordham and Kingsbridge. After losing to Sen. Gustavo Rivera by almost 20 points in 2014, City Councilmember Fernando Cabrera is making a second attempt there this year.

An independent expenditure committee that supports tax credits and has been funded by individuals such as financier Roger Hertog and Walmart heiress Alice Walton had spent nearly half a million dollars backing Cabrera as of Aug. 29. A NYSUT-linked group sprang into action in recent weeks and has since spent at least $38,000 on Rivera’s behalf.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has been the most powerful Bronx official since he wrested control of the county’s Democrats in 2008, but he hasn’t had much of a chance to shape its delegation in the Senate. There hasn’t been an open seat in any of the five districts that are primarily in the borough since then, but Ruth Hassell-Thompson is retiring this year in a district that includes Mount Vernon. Heastie’s going all-in for his long-time aide Jamaal Bailey.

Bailey is running against reverends Que English and Edward Mulraine, doctor and community board member Alvin Ponder, and after-school training advocate Pamela Hamilton-Johnson, who earned the backing of the Daily News partially because “Bailey declined to name a single matter on which he differs from his mentor.”

Assembly District 86, Democratic: Victor Pichardo and Hector Ramirez

Freshman Assemblyman Victor Pichardo won office in 2014 by defeating Hector Ramirez by two votes. Ramirez is making another attempt for the seat, though his task was presumably made more difficult when he was indicted in May for voter fraud charges relating to the 2014 race.

New York City Council District 17, Democratic: Helen Hines and Rafael Salamanca

New York City Councilman Rafael Salamanca won a February special election to fill the seat vacated by Maria del Carmen Arroyo with just over half the vote. He’ll have to appear on the ballot again on Tuesday, where he’s running against former 1199 SEIU official Helen Hines. Salamanca has enjoyed the most support so far, including an endorsement from Hines’ former union.

Other Races

In addition to Rivera and Pichardo, six incumbent Bronx state legislators are facing primary challenges.

Ischia Bravo, who was the Bronx party’s executive director when Heastie was its chair, is running against Assemblyman Jose Rivera, whom Heastie ousted as chair.

Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, who succeeded Heastie, is being challenged by William Moore, and tax accountant Elliot Quinones is running against Sen. Ruben Diaz. Both Moore and Quinones have a history of battling with their respective opponents — they accused Crespo and Diaz of voter fraud in the 2014 elections.

In other races, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares is being challenged by tenant organizer George Fernandez and Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez’s chief of staff, Carmen De La Rosa., who is backed by congressional nominee Adriano Espaillat. Twenty-two-year incumbent assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo is running against Carmen Muniz and Jackson Strong, who transferred his childhood desire to revitalize Schenectady to the Bronx. Special education advocate Pamela Stewart-Martinez is taking on Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda.

BROOKLYN

Senate District 19, Democratic: Roxanne Persaud and Mercedes Narcisse

Assembly District 46, Democratic: Pamela Harris and Katie Cucco

Assembly District 59, Democratic: Jaime Williams and Spencer Cineus

Candidates who come into office via a recent special election are far more vulnerable than their peers who are well tenured or first won via a standard election. While the reelection rate to the state Legislature is usually north of 95 percent, more than a fifth of the special election winners between 2006 and 2014 were defeated at the polls in either their first or second attempt to win a regularly scheduled race.

That’s probably not coincidental: There’s low turnout in specials, which can lead to fluky results, and candidates are selected by party leaders, which means the victors were elected without facing a primary challenge.

Three Democrats from Brooklyn came into office after winning specials in 2015 or 2016.

When Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny retired last year, his former chief of staff Kate Cucco attempted to win the party’s nomination to succeed him in the district that encompasses Coney Island and Bay Ridge. Party leaders gave the line to eventual victor Pamela Harris, but Cucco is now attempting to win the first primary since Brook-Krasny’s departure.

Harris still enjoys the support of party leaders: The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee has spent more money on her behalf than all but two of the state’s incumbents with primary challengers. Cucco, meanwhile, has been backed by education reform advocates. She might also hold a demographic edge: Harris is the only African-American in the city who represents a majority white district.

Sen. Roxanne Persaud was elevated from the Assembly last year to fill the Canarsie and East New York seat vacated by the conviction of John Sampson. She’s now facing a primary challenge from Mercedes Narcisse, a nurse who is being backed by Councilwoman Inez Barron and her husband, Assemblyman Charles Barron.

The Assembly seat vacated by Persaud was filled by Jaime Williams in an April special. She’ll appear on the ballot Tuesday along with Kings committeemember Spencer Cineus.

Assembly District 55, Democratic: Latrice Walker and Darlene Mealy:

In 2014, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker received 40 percent of the vote in a seven-way primary to fill the Brownsville seat vacated by William Boyland. This year, she’s in a one-on-one matchup against City Councilmember Darlene Mealy. The two have a tense history — Walker recently accused her opponent of gluing her campaign office’s door shut during a 2010 district leader contest, which Mealy denies.

This is one of the several races that’s being funded largely by education interests. As of Aug. 29, Mealy had raised less than $15,000 and tax credit supporters had spent $378,482 on her behalf. At that point, NYSUT had spent about $40,000 attacking her.

There are two Democratic primary races for Brooklyn seats that are being vacated.

Assemblyman Jim Brennan is retiring after 16 terms representing a district containing Prospect Park, and he has endorsed lawyer and play producer Robert Carroll, as have the New York Times and a long list of elected officials and labor unions. Carroll is running against R.M. Curry-Smithson and Troy Odendhal, who describes himself as a “community development professional.”

Bedford-Stuyvesant has been represented in the Assembly by Annette Robinson since 2002, but she’s stepping down and endorsing Tremaine Wright, a community board chair and coffee shop founder. Wright is running against Karen Cherry, a staffer for Assemblyman Erik Dilan.

Other races:

Three additional incumbent Brooklyn lawmakers have primary challenges this year.

Debbie Medina, whom The Nation compared to Bernie Sanders in a lengthy March profile, received 42 percent of the vote against Sen. Martin Dilan in 2014. She’s making a second attempt this year.

Michael Cox, a former Commerce Department and NYU staffer, is challenging 16-term incumbent Senator Velmanette Montgomery in a district that includes Fort Greene and Gowanus. His campaign’s been funded by donors such as the pro-charter Families for Excellent Schools and former New York City first daughter Emma Bloomberg.

Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte succeeded Rhoda Jacobs in a Flatbush and Ditmas Park district last election. She’s being challenged by Victor Jordan, a UFT and community board member who received 6 percent of the vote in the four-way race in the district in 2014.

CAPITAL REGION

Senate District 49, Republican: Jim Tedisco and Christian Klueg

On paper, everything suggests Jim Tedisco is the overwhelming favorite in both the primary and general elections to replace 20-term incumbent senator Hugh Farley. He has vastly greater name recognition than first-time candidate Klueg — during his more than three decades in the Assembly, he’s likely appeared on Capital District television news more than any other state legislator. He has more money and establishment support and has deep ties in Schenectady, which is more important to winning the district than Klueg’s hometown of Northampton (population 2,670).

If it weren’t for the general anti-establishment mood that seems to exist among the electorate this year, the only reason to think Tedisco isn’t an absolute lock is his 0-1 record in races for higher office for which he was a shoo-in. In 2009, he lost a congressional special election to little-known Democrat Scott Murphy that he was initially heavily favored to win.

Assembly District 112, Republican: James Fischer and Mary Beth Walsh

Since Tedisco’s running for the Senate, there’s an opening for his Assembly seat. Mary Beth Walsh, a Ballston Town Board member, has the support of most local Republican elected officials, but she faces a primary against Ballston attorney James Fischer.

The district, containing Saratoga Springs and western Washington County, has a long history of Republican representation, but Democrat Carrie Woerner was able to win by 1,800 votes in 2014. Jeweler and Saratoga Republican committeeman Christopher Boyark is running against food service manager Gerard Moser for the party’s nomination to attempt to win the seat back.

Town councilors from Cicero and Manlius are vying to challenge incumbent Democrat Al Stirpe for a seat that represents Syracuse’s eastern suburbs. It’s one of two Assembly districts in the state that has changed parties four times over the past decade: Stirpe succeeded a Republican after winning the 2006 race, lost the seat four years later, then won it again in 2012.

Sen. Mike Nozzolio is retiring after 24 years representing a district that captures the northern portions of the four longest Finger Lakes, and there’s a crowded field of Republicans hoping to be the nominee and a huge favorite to retain the seat come November.

Most of the highest-profile endorsements have gone to two candidates. Canandaigua Supervisor Pam Helming won the backing of the district’s party officials, and the centralized Senate Republican Campaign Committee has since spent money on her behalf. Contractor company owner Floyd Rayburn has received the support of business groups such as Unshackle Upstate and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The other candidates in the race are former assemblyman Sean Hanna, Lyons Supervisor Brian Manktelow and former Greece police officer Jon Ritter.

Assembly District 138, Democratic: Harry Bronson and Rachel Barnhart

Assembly District 138, Republican: Bob Zinck and Peter Vazquez

A few Republicans who supported gay marriage have been ousted since 2012, but other than that, there’s not much recent history of experienced and scandal-free incumbents supported by their party’s leaders losing primaries. Because of that, Rachel Barnhart’s Democratic campaign against Assemblyman Harry Bronson would typically be considered an extremely long shot, but she’s got one big advantage that most challengers haven’t had.

Barnhart arguably has as much name recognition in Rochester as anybody not named Wegman due to her nearly two decades as a local news reporter and frequent use of social media site such as Twitter, where’s she’s amassed over 43,000 followers. That’s not entirely a positive – some of her past work, coupled with Bronson’s labor experience, has helped earn her the opposition of teachers’ unions – but it means she entered the race having already overcome one of the biggest hurdles most challengers face.

Bronson has three minor lines locked up, so there’s a scenario in which the GOP can pick up the long-standing Democratic district if Barnhart wins the Democratic line and splits the vote with him. The Republican nomination is being contested by coffee shop owner Bob Zinck and former Department of the Treasury employee Peter Vazquez.

Assembly District 133, Republican: Bill Nojay and Richard Milne

Honeoye Falls Mayor Richard Milne’s primary challenge against two-term incumbent Bill Nojay took an unbelievably dark turn when Nojay committed suicide on Friday. He’ll still appear on the primary ballot, however, and if he wins, the GOP nominee will be decided by party officials.

LONG ISLAND

Assembly District 6, Democratic: Phil Ramos and Giovanni Mata

Seven-term incumbent Ramos is being challenged by insurance salesman Mata in another race in which spending has been dominated by outside education groups. As of late August, tax credit backers had put $321,261 into the race, which, according to Newsday, Ramos believes is “retaliati[on] against him for successful efforts to block charter schools in Islip.”

Assembly District 20, Democratic: Anthony Eramo and Jeffrey Toback

The election of Democrat Todd Kaminsky to the Senate earlier this year meant that his 16-month tenure in this Long Beach district was much briefer than that of the two Democrats who preceded him — Jerry Kremer and Harvey Weisenberg held the seat from 1966 through 2014.

Long Beach councilman Anthony Eramo and Nassau County legislator Jeffrey Toback are vying for the nomination to keep their party’s streak alive. There’s been some independent spending in the race: Eramo, a CWA chief steward, has been backed by 32BJ SEIU, and Toback, the more conservative of the two, is supported by the League of Conservation Voters.

Senate District 3, Democratic: John De Vito, Joseph Fritz and Richard Montano

Senate District 3, represented by Republican Tom Croci, probably isn’t Democrats’ best hope for a win this year, but it’s a district they could feasibly pick up in the right conditions. Three candidates are vying to be the nominee who will attempt to pull that off in November: former school board member Joseph Fritz, law student John De Vito, and former Suffolk County legislator Richard Montano, who lost a race in a neighboring Senate district in 2012.

The race to replace congressional nominee Adriano Espaillat entails many battles that have been fought dozens of times before. The three major candidates represent different demographic bases in the diverse West Side district: Lasher is white, Jackson is African American and Alcantara is Dominican. A politician who’s rising through the ranks, in this case Alcantara-backer Espaillat, is trying his hand at being a local powerbroker. And education groups are invested in the race —Lasher has work for a charter school advocacy group, and NYSUT is spending to help Jackson.

But on top of these familiar story lines, the primary is partially about the normalization of the Independent Democratic Conference. After Democrats won a Senate majority in 2012, they were kept out of power when the breakaway conference formed a coalition government with Republicans, and internecine primary battles were dialed down only after IDC leader Jeff Klein pledged to reunite with his erstwhile colleagues.

The IDC has yet to make any similar pledges this time around. Its efforts this election season have focused entirely on Alcantara, who won’t commit to joining the Democrats if she’s elected in the overwhelmingly left-leaning district. Nevertheless, mainline party members such as Public Advocate Tish James and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have backed her. She’s also earned the support of stalwarts of the Democratic coalition such as the Hotel and Motel Trades Council and her employers at the New York State Nurses Association, which made a big investment in helping the party win a majority in 2014.

If she does win and joins the IDC, she’d broaden its political map, which currently consists of parts of the state that have shifted from red to blue in recent years. Four of the five conference members have districts whose lines are fairly similar to what they were before the 2002 redistricting. Each of these districts had been represented by Republicans for decades before the current members won their first elections. The West Side and Harlem, in contrast, have been solidly Democratic for as long as anywhere in the country.

By the end of his four decades in the Assembly, Sheldon Silver was completely impervious to challenges. Two candidates, including activist Paul Newell, ran against the then-speaker in a much-hyped 2008 race. Newell’s willingness to question Silver’s outside income earned him the New York Times’ endorsement, but only 23 percent of the vote.

That outside income led to Silver’s conviction last year. A special election was held in April, and voters sent Alice Cancel to Albany for the closing months of the 2016 session. Cancel, however, was chosen by party leaders still loyal to Silver and didn’t have to run in a primary. On Tuesday, she’ll have to contend with five fellow Democrats.

Yuh-Line Niou, Assemblyman Ron Kim’s chief of staff, was Cancel’s closest contender earlier this year. After being denied the Democratic spot, she continued to run on the Working Families line and received 35 percent of the vote. Niou’s still the favorite candidate of several labor unions, having received the backing of 32BJ SEIU, District Council 37 and the Hotel Trades Council.

Newell’s also making another run for the seat. He didn’t earn the Times’ endorsement this time around — it endorsed Niou — but the newspaper did describe him as “another strong candidate,” and he’s received the backing of the Daily News. He’s also received the support of some unions, including the United Federation of Teachers, and is generally the favorite among individuals and groups that supported Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary.

The prior candidacy of the Taiwanese-born Niou caught the attention of some portions of the city’s Asian-American community. The district, which contains Chinatown, was 43 percent Asian as of the last census. But it’s unlikely that identity politics will be too helpful to her candidacy, as the three other candidates are also of Asian ancestry. Community Board 3 leader Gigi Lee, district leader Jenifer Rajukumar, and businessman Don Lee are all mounting serious campaigns.

Other races:

Thirteen-term incumbent Assemblywoman Deborah Glick is being challenged by Jim Fouratt, who’s criticizing her for her willingness to stand by Silver. Eugene Byrne is running against Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal in the Upper West Side, and Steven Appel is attempting to oust Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell in a district that contains neighborhoods such as Morningside Heights.

MID-HUDSON

Senate District 42, Democratic: John Bonacic and Pramilla Malick

Community activist Pramilla Malick decided to run for the Senate when she realized the Democrats didn’t have a candidate to run against nine-term Republican incumbent John Bonacic. But she didn’t make this decision until it was too late to get her name on the primary ballot, meaning the Democratic nomination will be decided entirely by write-in votes. Bonacic decided to take advantage of this and has since sent out multiple mailers encouraging Democrats to write his name in.

Senate District 40, Democratic: Ali Boak and Andrew Falk

Democrats have long coveted the Putnam and Westchester seat currently held by Sen. Terence Murphy. Republicans are acting as though they expect to run against Pound Ridge councilwoman Ali Boak, who has enjoyed the most support from local officials. Andrew Falk, her opponent, has previously made two attempts at winning an Assembly seat and has the Working Families line locked up in November.

Assembly District 84, Republican: Suzi McDonough and Kevin Byrne

Greg Ball had a colorful career as a state legislator. During his time in Albany, he was involved in an alleged altercation at a diner, claimed a Salvadoran gang left a dead goat on his doorstep, and introduced a bill memo on killer whales that was plagiarized from a 17-year-old Chicago resident. He’s since moved to Texas where he started a marketing and technology firm.

The Putnam seat he represented in the Assembly from 2007-2010 is opening up this year due to the retirement of Steve Katz, and Ball’s again making his presence felt in New York politics. As of late August, over 70 percent of the $38,613 spent by Carmel Town Board member and former Ball chief of staff Suzi McDonough in the district’s Republican primary has gone to Ball's firm.

She’s running against Kevin Byrne, the recent president of the Putnam County Young Republicans and the overwhelming favorite of local party officials.

Other races

Democratic Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee is being challenged by Airmont Planning Board member Thomas Gulla, who is focused on issues such as schools in East Ramapo.

Activist and salesman John Allegro is running against Republican Asssemblyman Karl Brabanec on a platform that calls for Albany to take a harder stance against the “Kiryas Joel Political Establishment.” Aron Wieder and Krystal Serrano are running for the Democratic line in that district.

MOHAWK VALEY

Assembly District 101, Republican: Brian Miller and Maria Kelso

Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney is running for Congress, so there’s an opening in the district she’s represented for six years, which snakes from the outskirts of Utica to the borders of Newburgh. Delaware County Republican chair Maria Kelso and Oneida County Legislator Brian Miller are competing for the GOP nomination to succeed her.

Other races

Patrick Vincent, a fuel shop owner from the village of Poland who says he’s “TIRED OF THE BS!” in Albany, is giving Republican Assemblyman Marc Butler his first primary challenge since he took office in 1995.

NORTH COUNTRY

Assembly District 116, Republican: John Byrne, Russell Finley and William Sheridan

Democratic Assemblywoman Addie Russell won by the smallest margin in the state two years ago, defeating former Cape Vincent councilman John Byrne by 95 votes. Byrne is hoping to make a second run for the seat this year, but he’ll first have to beat former Olympic bobsledder Russ Finley and former St. Lawrence County legislator William Sheridan on Tuesday.

QUEENS

Senate District 16, Democratic: Toby Ann Stavisky and S.J. Jung

When people come to Albany, they tend to stick around for a while. The average tenure of 10.2 years in the state Senate, where officeholders need to face reelection every two years, is exactly the same as in the United States Senate, whose members have the luxury of only needing to appear before voters every six years.

This longevity is no longer a fact of life in Queens, however, where demographic changes and scandals have contributed to an almost complete remaking of the seven-member delegation since 2008. The only current member who was around for the fleeting Eliot Spitzer era is Toby Ann Stavisky, who holds a Flushing-area seat that has been represented by either her or her late husband since 1983.

While she has the sort of popularity and scandal-free record that usually makes Albany officials impervious to challenges, her district has also undergone significant demographic changes in recent years. In the 1990 Census, 23 percent of its residents were of Asian ancestry, a number that ballooned to 53 percent over the following two decades. Asian-Americans have a long history of being underrepresented in the state Legislature — there’s only one Assembly district, which overlaps with the Senate district represented by Stavisky, in which they’ve ever won elections.

Business owner S.J. Jung attempted to change this by challenging Stavisky in 2014, when he received 42 percent of the vote. He’s making a second attempt this year. Many of the battles in the 2016 race have been over cultural divides, but not necessarily those that cut neatly across demographic lines: Stavisky’s side has been hammering Jung for his proposal to ban pictures of same-sex couples from textbooks and his pro-life stance on abortion.

Male District Leader, Democratic Leadership District 35 Part A: George Dixon and Hiram Monserrate

It’s fair to say that Hiram Monserrate is one of the most reviled people to have ever served in Albany. A month after he won election to the Senate in 2008, he was caught on video dragging his bloody girlfriend through his apartment’s lobby. He said he was trying to force her to go to the hospital after she smashed a glass against her face. He was eventually convicted of misdemeanor assault charges and became the first senator expelled by his peers since 1781, but not before throwing the chamber into chaos for a month when he played a key role in a coup against his own party. He was later convicted on unrelated felony corruption charges involving grants he gave out as a city councilmember.

He’s since spent time working at a Corona pizzeria. But there’s great news for voters who think Monserrate deserves another chance: He’s attempting to mount a comeback by running for district leader.

Monserrate apparently has money for his campaign: he has sent out mailers and has a campaign website on which the smooth grooves of McFadden & Whitehead’s disco hit "Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now" play on a loop. As of Friday, however, he hadn’t filed any legally required campaign finance disclosure reports with the state Board of Elections.

His opponent, George Dixon, is a Vietnam veteran and board member of the local NAACP chapter.

Senate District 10, Democratic: James Sanders and Adrienne Adams

Two-term senator James Sanders has a long history of breaking with the Queens party establishment, most recently by flirting with a primary challenge against Rep. Gregory Meeks. Community board chair Adrienne Adams entered the Senate race when Sanders was talking about running for that higher office, and party officials are continuing to back her despite Sanders’ re-entry.

Due to the February death of Assemblywoman Barbara Clark, there’s an opening in her former Hollis-area district for the first time in three decades.

Five candidates are vying to succeed her, including Nantasha Williams, Assemblywoman Diana Richardson’s chief of staff. Clyde Vanel, who recently performed work for GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, is backed by Rev. Floyd Flake and District Council 37.

Former Malcolm Smith aide Bryan Block has been endorsed by 32BJ SEIU and the Stonewall Democrats, and Haitian American Political Action Committee vice president Sabine French is also running.

Roy Paul says he’s the “youngest African-American to ever be elected to public office in New York State” due to his victory in a school board race at the age of 19. His positions on education recently earned him the backing of the New York Post, but the extent to which school reform groups are helping him out is unclear. He hasn’t filed any of the two most recent required campaign finance disclosure reports, which he recently downplayed to POLITICO New York because “Its [sic] not uncommon for the reports to be filed late.”

Other races

Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman, who was elected in a 2015 special to complete William Scarborough’s term, is being challenged by Linda Guillebeaux and community activist Lorraine Bridges.

There’s a judicial race in Chemung County and a four-way GOP bout to represent Council District 2 in Colesville, but it mostly promises to be a quiet Tuesday in the Southern Tier.

STATEN ISLAND

Assembly District 62, Republican: Ron Castorina and Janine Materna

After winning an April 19 special election to fill a vacant Staten Island Assembly seat, it took Ron Castorina six weeks to earn the vitriol of a huge number of his colleagues when he compared abortion to “African American genocide” during a floor debate and prompted a walk-out. Now, the campaign against Castorina has been particularly vitriolic as he seeks his first full term. His opponent, community activist Janine Materna, has falsely accused him of improperly claiming a STAR tax exemption and said without evidence that he’s been arrested in Rhode Island. One of her supporters was arrested on stalking charges in June after sending him four letters and packages containing sheets of paper with only the word “Greetings” written on them, then subsequently sued him in a defamation lawsuit in which she’s seeking “at least the sum of $1 million.”

He’s criticized her for interning for Hillary Clinton in the past and said she wants to build more affordable housing on the South Shore, which she denies.

WESTERN NEW YORK

Senate District 60, Republican: Chris Jacobs and Kevin Stocker

Senate District 60, Democratic: Amber Small and Al Coppola

It wouldn’t be surprising if a political science professor used Senate District 60 to teach her students about gerrymandering. Buffalo’s as solidly Democratic a city as there is, but Republicans were able to carve out a district kept contiguous by a stretch of abandoned grain silos that connects white working-class neighborhoods in the north to more conservative southern suburbs. The map gives them an edge, despite an enrollment disadvantage of 84,055-49,222: GOP and Conservative candidates received 58 percent of the vote in 2012 and 67 percent in 2014.

Unfortunately for Republicans, this huge margin didn’t translate to a victory two years ago. After Kevin Stocker defeated incumbent Mark Grisanti in the GOP primary and Timothy Gallagher won the Conservative nomination, Grisanti continued to run on two other minor lines. The three candidates split their support, enabling Democrat Marc Panepinto to win with less than a third of the vote.

Panepinto isn’t seeking a second term. Jacobs, the Erie County clerk, is the Republicans’ preferred candidate, and his name recognition and deep financial reservoirs will likely make him the frontrunner once the general election ballot is set. He’s guaranteed a couple of minor lines, but Stocker’s running in the Republican primary again. There’s also going to be a Reform Party primary in the district, letting him get on the ballot on that new minor party’s line if he can convince a majority of the district’s three registered Reform members to write his name in. If Stocker can pull another primary upset, the electoral math in both the district and the broader battle for control of the Senate will get a lot more complicated.

Even if all goes as planned for Jacobs, the huge enrollment advantage means the district isn’t unwinnable for Democrats in a presidential year.

Al Coppola is making his 10 th attempt to win this seat in the past nine election cycles (there have been two specials, one of which was held in 2000 and was his only victory). He’s challenging community activist Amber Small, who has picked up a large number of endorsements from unions and local officials.

Assembly District 143, Democratic: Kristy Mazurek and Monica Wallace

Erie County District Attorney, Democratic: Michael Flaherty, Mark Sacha and John Flynn

Buffalo political operative Steve Pigeon developed ties to dozens of elected officials at the state and local levels before being indicted in June on nine charges, including bribery and extortion. Since then, his ties to candidates have dominated the area’s two most prominent Democratic primaries.

Cheektowaga’s Assembly District 143 had been controlled by Democrats for decades before Dennis Gabryszak resigned in 2014 while under investigation for sexual harassment. Republican Angela Wozniak was able to pick up the seat later that year by stressing that she’d “bring Western New York values to Albany,” but decided to not seek a second term after she was caught up in her own sexual harassment scandal.

Democrats thus have a good chance to pick up a district here, and there are two of them hoping to be the party’s nominee. University at Buffalo Law School Professor Monica Wallace and her allies have repeatedly called out opponent Kristy Mazurek for her role administering a Pigeon PAC whose actions prompted investigations into him. She’s called on her opponent to explain her role in the probe, which Mazurek has refused to do, and said that the district’s residents “have weathered two successive scandals … and they don’t need a third.”

Accusations of associations with Pigeon are similarly dominating the open race for Erie County’s district attorney race in a three-way Democratic primary. Mark Sacha was fired as an assistant DA seven years ago for criticizing incumbent Frank Sedita for not prosecuting Pigeon on election law violations. Mysterious robocalls have since attacked candidate John Flynn for briefly running as an ally of a Pigeon ally four years ago.

These two candidates treated the third, Acting DA Michael Flaherty, as the frontrunner by focusing heavily on him in a debate last month. Sacha has also attempted to link Flaherty to Pigeon, since he was in the DA’s office at the time it declined to investigate the operative.

The Amherst district represented by Ray Walter since 2011 is typically a safe Republican seat in Novembers, but it’s not an absolute lock. The incumbent received 54 percent of the vote in the last presidential election year. If he’s forced to split conservative votes with a minor party candidate, a scenario in which Democrat Steve Meyer is competitive is feasible.

CORRECTION: This story initially stated the 40th Senate District is represented by Terry Gipson. It is represented by Sen. Terence Murphy.